Customarily during the first days of the New Year,
people tend to make resolutions about turning over
a new leaf, doing away with improper behavior. It
is in light of this thinking, that a story I read
while conducting my dissertation research a few years
ago seems suddenly relevant. The article, entitled
What People Earn and Eat in Liberia, was published
in 1878 and included the annual salaries of a number
of government officials. For instance, the annual
salary of President Anthony W. Gardner was $2,500;
the Secretary of State’s annual salary was $1,000,
the Secretary of the Treasury’s $1,000, the
Attorney-General’s $750, and the Postmaster-General’s
$750 (The African Repository, Vol. LIV, January 1878,
No.1, page 14). What rekindled this more-than-century-old
story in my mind was the upsurge in the news about
Liberian officials stealing public funds. (See November
and December stories in ThePerspective.org and allAfrica.com.)
It was the acknowledgment, however, by Liberian Interim
Chairman Gyude Bryant that actually prompted me to
muse about the connection between the 1878 article
and the consistent reports of the embezzlement of
public funds: the Chairman acquiesced to increasing
international scrutiny and admitted (somewhat remorsefully)
that his government cannot account for millions of
dollars placed in its trust by the international community
(allAfrica.com, Dec. 14, 2004). Consistent with the
spirit of contrition at the beginning of each year,
the following is my proposal for a New Year’s
Resolution for Chairman Bryant.

Apparently there was a hint of regret in the tone of
Chairman Bryant’s confession, especially his reported
pledge to immediately institute “prudent fiscal
management.” If the Chairman truly regrets the
misappropriation of public money and would like to put
an end to this unconscionable pilfering, he can begin
by disclosing his monthly salary - and allowances -
along with those of the senior and junior members in
the executive, legislative, and judicial branches of
government. In other words, the Bryant Government should
make a full disclosure to the public of how much salary
each government official earns. This should be his New
Year’s Resolution to the Liberian people, whom
are the victims of this massive fraud. The 1878 story
suggests that the public announcement of government
employees’ salaries was a common practice. However,
this custom seems to have become rarer during the William
Tubman presidency (1944-1971). By the time of the administrations
of Samuel Doe (1980-1991) and Charles Taylor (1998-2003),
the public could barely distinguish between an official’s
salary and funds entrusted to his or her care. These
two presidents further blurred the line by escalating
a previous corrupt practice, whereby officials would
use public funds to make “personal donations”
of thousands of dollars to their supporters.

The practice of siphoning public money into private
accounts is deeply entrenched in Liberia’s political
culture, a fraud that seems to rise exponentially
with each successive presidency. Thus, access to information
about how much money the president or a cabinet minister
takes home will not end the embezzlement of public
funds per se. Nonetheless, this kind of openness will
embolden Liberians to be more vigilant. While the
declaration of public officials’ incomes did
not eliminate their proclivity to steal government
money in the past, restoring this custom this time
around will contribute to the transparency that Chairman
Bryant has promised. This is so primarily because
the extant political environment is more likely to
tolerate the new found freedom that an intrusive Liberian
press and a nosy populace are savoring; in the past,
the Liberian press and the government basically spoke
with one and the same voice. Therefore, if Chairman
Bryant is sincere about halting the unbridled theft
of public money (and it sounds like he wants to) then
let him take this small (but necessary) step, and
tell Liberians how much he and other public servants
earn or are allowed to use each month. This will empower
Liberians to probe into what appears to be the iffy
sources of income that have allowed officials to live
far beyond their legitimate means.

The public is bound to become suspicious, when government
officials are capable of maintaining a lavish lifestyle
at a time when the infrastructure (e.g., schools and
hospitals) cannot be restored, at least, to its prewar
capacity due to the lack of money. One must wonder
how, for instance, a number of officials can construct
new homes and comfortably support two households on
both sides of the Atlantic. What is even more intriguing
is that prior to employment in the government, many
of these officials were literally paupers, scurrying
to make ends meet at home and abroad. Declaring their
salaries will greatly enhance the transparency that
Chairman Bryant has pledged and UN Secretary-General
Kofi Annan urged a few days ago (UN News Service,
December 23, 2004).

Public access to information about the incomes or
the allowances of public servants was evidently commonplace
in the past, as demonstrated in the 1878 publication.
But lately this information has been shrouded in secrecy.
It is this secrecy that is, in turn, contributing
to the misuse of public money. Under growing pressure
from the UN, Chairman Gyude Bryant capitulated and
conceded that his administration misapplied millions
of dollars of the public money. Now the Chairman must
demonstrate that he is genuinely conscience-stricken
about the embezzlement of public funds and is sincere
about instituting “prudent fiscal management.”
A good beginning is for him to disclose how much salary
and allowances he and other officials take home each
month. This should be the New Year’s Resolution
of his government to a very skeptical Liberian population.

About the author: Dr. William E.
Allen teaches history at Georgia Perimeter College in
Atlanta, Georgia.